{"id":69248,"date":"2018-04-06T01:14:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T01:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/06\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:27:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:27:33","slug":"trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/06\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump wants out of Syria, but don&#8217;t say &#8216;timeline&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump has spoken: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2018\/04\/04\/trump-wants-troops-out-of-syria-but-his-generals-may-resist\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria<\/a> by the fall. But don\u2019t call it a \u201ctimeline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wary of charges of hypocrisy for publicly telegraphing military strategy after criticizing former President Barack Obama for the same thing, the White House has ordered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/04\/white-house-says-syria-mission-coming-to-a-rapid-end\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Trump\u2019s national security team<\/a> not to speak of a \u201ctimeline\u201d for withdrawal. That\u2019s even after Trump made it clear to his top aides this week that he wants the pullout completed within five or six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn\u2019t the result top national security aides wanted. Trump\u2019s desire for a rapid withdrawal faced unanimous opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence community, all of which argued that keeping the 2,000 U.S. soldiers currently in Syria is key to ensuring the Islamic State does not reconstitute itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2018\/04\/03\/trump-says-its-time-to-leave-syria-votel-says-were-staying\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18090732871385.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump says \u2018it\u2019s time\u2019 to leave Syria; Votel says we\u2019re staying<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">U.S. forces have cleared most of ISIS from Syria, but top commander there says there&#039;s need for stabilization, reconstruction.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as they huddled in the Situation Room, the president was vocal and vehement in insisting that the withdrawal be completed quickly if not immediately, according to five administration officials briefed on Tuesday\u2019s White House meeting of Trump and his top aides. The officials weren\u2019t authorized to discuss internal deliberations and requested anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If those aides failed in obtaining their desired outcome, it may have been because a strategy that\u2019s worked in the past \u2014 giving Trump an offer he can\u2019t refuse \u2014 appears to have backfired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than offer Trump a menu of pullout plans, with varying timelines and options for withdrawing step-by-step, the team sought to frame it as a binary choice: Stay in Syria to ensure the Islamic State can\u2019t regroup, or pull out completely. Documents presented to the president included several pages of possibilities for staying in, but only a brief description of an option for full withdrawal that emphasized significant risks and downsides, including the likelihood that Iran and Russia would take advantage of a U.S. vacuum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ultimately, Trump chose that option anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/30\/in-private-trump-has-mused-about-syria-pullout-for-weeks\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-939809408.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">In private, Trump has mused about Syria pullout for weeks<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">President Donald Trump\u2019s unscripted remark this week about pulling out of Syria \u201cvery soon,\u201d while at odds with his own policy, was not a one-off.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president had opened the meeting with a tirade about U.S. intervention in Syria and the Middle East more broadly, repeating lines from public speeches in which he\u2019s denounced previous administrations for \u201cwasting\u201d $7 trillion in the region over the past 17 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What has the U.S. gotten for the money and American lives expended in Syria? \u201cNothing,\u201d Trump said over and over, according to the officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5760\" height=\"3840\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAR-YIR-1-1225.JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-42092\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAR-YIR-1-1225.JPG.jpg 5760w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAR-YIR-1-1225.JPG.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAR-YIR-1-1225.JPG.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAR-YIR-1-1225.JPG.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAR-YIR-1-1225.JPG.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAR-YIR-1-1225.JPG.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5760px) 100vw, 5760px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marines with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit fire a M777 Howitzer during a fire mission in northern Syria. (Lance Cpl. Zachery Laning\/Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The intensity of Trump\u2019s tone and demeanor raised eyebrows and unease among the top brass gathered to hash out a Syria plan with Trump, officials said: Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary James Mattis, CIA chief Mike Pompeo and acting Secretary of State John Sullivan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At one point, Dunford spoke up, one official said, telling Trump that his approach was not productive and asked him to give the group specific instructions as to what he wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s response was to demand an immediate withdrawal of all American troops and an end to all U.S. civilian stabilization programs designed to restore basic infrastructure to war-shattered Syrian communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mattis countered, arguing that an immediate withdrawal could be catastrophic and was logistically impossible to pull off in any responsible way, without risking the return of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in newly liberated territories, the officials said. Mattis floated a one-year withdrawal as an alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump then relented \u2014 but only slightly, telling his aides they could have five or six months to complete the mission to destroy the Islamic State and then get out, according to the officials. Trump also indicated that he did not want to hear in October that the military had been unable to fully defeat the Islamic State and had to remain in Syria for longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president had spoken. But what to say about it publicly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a brief and vague statement released the day after the meeting, the White House said the U.S. role in Syria is coming to a \u201crapid end\u201d and emphasized that the U.S. was counting on other countries and the U.N. to deal with Syria\u2019s future. But it offered no specificity as to the timing of a U.S. withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe president has actually been very good in not giving us a specific timeline,\u201d Dunford said Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019ve always thought that as we reach finale against ISIS in Syria, we\u2019re going to adjust the level of our presence there. So in that sense, nothing has actually changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pentagon officials stressed that no formal order had been handed down to the military to alter course or start a withdrawal. Nonetheless, the officials said Trump was clear in his intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Trump, any notion of a \u201ctimeline\u201d comes with significant political risk. After all, he had regularly bashed Obama on the campaign trail for forecasting his military moves in advance. In fact, Trump was so critical of Obama for putting an arbitrary deadline on the 2011 Iraq withdrawal that he dubbed Obama \u201cthe founder of ISIS,\u201d arguing that Obama had signaled to al-Qaida sympathizers in Iraq that they need only wait the U.S. out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Trump\u2019s whole strategy for dealing with Afghanistan, for example, is based on the idea that the U.S. presence should be \u201cconditions-based\u201d and not time-based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m not like other administrations, where they say we\u2019re going to do this in four weeks and that. It doesn\u2019t work that way,\u201d Trump said last year, shortly after becoming president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump has spoken: He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria by the fall. But don\u2019t call it a \u201ctimeline.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":101649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,8,12,25,68],"tags":[],"coauthors":[499,795],"class_list":["post-69248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6A6KZC4WZJGMLMS4MOB7BN2DFI","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/06\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump wants out of Syria, but don&#039;t say &#039;timeline&#039; - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Donald Trump has spoken: He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria by the fall. But don\u2019t call it a \u201ctimeline.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump wants out of Syria, but don&#039;t say &#039;timeline&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Donald Trump has spoken: He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria by the fall. But don\u2019t call it a \u201ctimeline.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/06\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-06T01:14:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T12:27:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Lee, The Associated Press, Josh Lederman, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew Lee, The Associated Press, Josh Lederman, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Trump wants out of Syria, but don&#8217;t say &#8216;timeline&#8217;\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2018-04-06T01:14:56+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T12:27:33+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 958,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18095775376448.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Flashpoints\",\n\t                \"News\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Pentagon &amp; Congress\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Trump wants out of Syria, but don't say 'timeline' - Army Times\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/06\\\/trump-wants-out-of-syria-but-dont-say-timeline\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18095775376448.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2018-04-06T01:14:56+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T12:27:33+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"President Donald Trump has spoken: He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria by the fall. 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